What is electronegativity?
Electronegativity is the tendency of an atom to attract a shared pair of electrons towards itself. The Pauling scale is the most commonly used, with fluorine (4.0) being the most electronegative element.
Bond type from electronegativity difference
- ΔEN < 0.5: Nonpolar covalent (electrons shared equally)
- 0.5 ≤ ΔEN < 2.0: Polar covalent (unequal sharing)
- ΔEN ≥ 2.0: Ionic (electron transfer)
% Ionic Character = (1 − e^(−0.25 × ΔEN²)) × 100